Graduated from Higher Air Force School, 1975 Soviet Air Force test pilot and parachutist. Cosmonaut training November 1965 - December 1967. Call sign: Mayak (Beacon). Later Deputy Director Satellite Control-Center of Russian Ministry of Defense. From May 1995 Director Military Engineering Academy of Aeronautics and Astronautics in St. Petersburg.. From 2001 retired from Air Force as General Colonel.

Manned three crew. Docked with Salyut 6. Tested the improved transport ship of the 'SOYUZ T' series; transported to the Salyut-6 orbital station a crew consisting of L D Kizim, O G Makarov and G M Strekalov to carry out repair and preventive work and scientific and technical investigation and experiments.

Manned three crew. Docked with Salyut 7. Transported to the Salyut-7 orbital station the Soviet-French international crew, comprising V A Dzhanibekov (USSR), A S Ivanchenkov (USSR) and Jean-Loup Chretien (France) to conduct scientific research and experiments.

Mir Main Expedition EO-01. Epic repair mission. The crew, consisting of ship's commander L D Kizim and flight engineer V A Solovyov first docked with the Mir orbital station to conduct scientific and technical studies and experiments. Mir then maneuvered 17 April to match Salyut 7's orbit at 4000 km separation, then again on 4 May to catch up. After six weeks aboard Mir, Soyuz T-15 undocked on 5 May, then rendezvoused and manually docked with the inoperative Salyut 7 station. This was the only flight in history by a single spacecraft between two space stations. The Salyut-7 station was found to be ice bound and without electrical power. The crew repaired the station, regaining power, heat, and environmental control. The also removed experimental results left behind by last crew. Soyuz T-15 undocked Salyut 7 on 25 June, and redocked with Mir on 26 June, delivering 400 kg of scientific material from Salyut 7, including a multichannel spectrometer. Following further work aboard Mir, the crew landed on July 16, 1986 at 12:34 GMT. No crew ever revisited Salyut 7; it made an uncontrolled reentry over Argentina.